Some social welfare measures of the Lê - Trịnh court toward the peasantry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Abstract

During nearly two centuries in power (1593-1787), the Lê-Trịnh regime implemented various social welfare measures aimed at alleviating peasant uprisings and helping the population stabilize their livelihoods. These measures included the reduction and exemption of taxes and corvée obligations; relief assistance for people affected by natural disasters, crop failures, and famine; visits and support for people in times of hardship; amnesties, pardons, and the suspension of imprisonment and litigation. The court also paid attention to the development of agricultural production in order to improve the people’s living conditions, such as dispatching agricultural officials to inspect fields and dike systems, urging the populace to prepare against floods, recruiting settlers for land reclamation, stipulating the responsibilities of officials, and strictly punishing acts of harassment and exploitation against the people. The social welfare policies implemented by the Lê-Trịnh regime during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries contributed to stabilizing the political and social situation of the time, while also helping to maintain.